1-11-13 Friday (Courthouse Prayers)

Back in September, I was cruising the interstate with my Mom at 9pm on my way home from taking my Aunt Donna to the airport.  The speed limit dropped, my new Mazda is much quieter and smoother than my 2000 Jeep AND I was chatting with mom.  All of that led to a 20 over the speed limit ticket.  I was allegedly doing 80 in a 60.  It was dark so I’m not sure how the Trooper calculated all of this and I didn’t argue.

Court was Wednesday.  I was called up pretty fast to the District Attorney’s desk.  There he immediately negotiated with everyone.  I can give you X instead of X or you can do Y.  I’ve never been to court before and was surprised at all of the negotiating going around everywhere.  Even in the hallway leading to the courtroom was a line where you can plea something different.  All of the bargaining was clearly heard throughout this echoing building.  What a joke.  Why not just make tickets more “affordable” to begin with and not offer up this crap.  What a system, what a joke.  I was happy to get what I got.  So what did I get?  Well, the DA immediately says, “Would you like a PJC?”  What’s that?

What is a “prayer for judgment continued?”

A prayer for judgment continued, or what is often referred to as a PJC, means that although a person pleads guilty, or is found guilty, the court does not enter the conviction. This spares the defendant of paying fines and from receiving driver’s license points and insurance points. For car insurance purposes, one PJC is available per household every three years for avoiding insurance points.

I said, “I have a cleaning driving record, is there anything else?”  Apparently 20mph over the limit prevents him from allowing me to take an “Improper Equipment” plea.

I was sentenced to court costs ($188) plus an 8 hour class ($100) = $288.  I wonder what the ticket would have cost if I didn’t get that?  Next Saturday I’ll be taking a delightful 8 hour class. 

In other news I have one more week of work till I become and Underwriter.  This week has been terrible.  Typically once you “post out” of my department they take you off the phones to help out in coaching or other areas.  A couple of my coworkers who were also able to post out were off the phones.  When I had heard about my position, it had happened on the 3rd of the month which is a very busy time for banks.  I asked if I could come off the phones and was told it was “all hands on deck” and we need to be there for our clients.  They made the other 2 guys get back on the phones (well one couldn’t because his access didn’t work anymore). This week, 1 started his new job and the other starts the same date as me so it’s just the 2 of us who are waiting for our new jobs to start.  Well, we’ll just call him Guy.  Through various reports that tell me number of calls taken and off the phone exceptions his manager entered for him, I found that Guy was off the phone while I was I was not.  Guy was even picked to do something that I asked to do back on the 3rd.  I found this to be pretty unfair.  Nothing against Guy.  I was pretty pissed.  My sales numbers have been great, I’m always a helper, I’ve been asked to be on special committees, etc.  Maybe I complained about it too much because one day he took 6 calls and I took 19 while “servicing our clients was so important”.  Then the next 2 days Guy was off the phone.  Now I was pretty livid.  I FINALLY realized, it wasn’t favoritism from the company it was that his supervisor (different team than me) has always hooked up her employees.  In the past, her people were off the phone while my supervisor’s wasn’t.  I got into it with my supervisor and called him out on it.  There’s a lot of other little things about this that’s “interesting” but there’s only so many details that I’d feel comfortable posting and that you’d even care to read.  Friday, Guy was back on the phones and didn’t say anything to me.  Undoubtedly he’s mad.  It wasn’t against him, I just wanted to be treated fairly and equal. 

I am so overly stressed about all of this I can’t let it go.  My supervisor pissed me off even more by reminding me not to burn bridges.  This upcoming week I have another 5 days and I can’t believe that a major change in my life for the good is coming with so much anger and resentment.  Next week?  I’m going to try and be happy, back to my usual outgoing self and hope that things level out.  For those who think “what’s the big deal”?  It is a big deal when you’re treated much differently than a peer.  I’ll just keep telling myself, “Only x more days.”

Last weekend we got the Christmas stuff put away.  Jim only managed to break 2 ornaments and 2 outdoor bulbs.  I told him I was going to mention that in the blog.  He’s clumsy. 

Above: Looking for Anne Frank.

We took a drive through the neighborhood and checked out a house under construction.

Above: The house is on the edge of a drainage culvert.  From straight out the door there’s the ditch.  Careful!

Let’s go upstairs…

Above: Click on it to enlarge, a nifty new window will open so you don’t lose your place.  Please close the window when done, it get’s drafty.  The is the backside of the Asian’s house across the street from us.  The one that had a child strapped onto their back while they cultivated the drainage ditch garden.  Look at the contrived back deck they made.  Surely not up to code and an eyesore for the purchaser of this house.

Above: Our house!